The Guizhou Shuanglong Airport Economic Development Zone (GSAEDZ) in Guiyang, the capital city of southwest China's Guizhou Province, aims to become a pacesetter of opening-up and to lead the economic development of Guizhou, serve the entire nation, and connect it with the rest of the world.
Apart from integrating different regulations and measures for simplification, the GSAEDZ prioritizes ecological preservation, the leading functions of high-end industries, and cultivation of relevant industries. It is designed to nurture a development momentum featuring "one core area and four functional sub-districts, two rings of transportation, and coordinated development between urban construction and the surrounding natural environment," and to grow into a major gateway for opening-up of inland regions in western China, a hub for air passenger and freight transportation, and a high-end airport-related industrial base with its own characteristics.
Statistics show that the fixed-asset investment of the GSAEDZ reached 35.7 billion yuan (about $5.1 billion) in 2016. The gross industrial output value and the output growth of local industries with annual revenue of 20 million yuan (nearly $ 2.9 million) or more from their main business operations were 14.3 billion yuan (roughly $ 2 billion) and four billion yuan (about $ 571.8 million) in the same year.
Investors from other parts of China brought 39 new projects, valued at a total 21.5 billion yuan (roughly $ 3.1 billion), to the GSAEDZ in 2016. That year, the amount of paid-in foreign investment in the economic development zone was $36 billion and the value of its foreign trade in goods rose to $120 million.
A total of 95 big data enterprises and related firms registered in the GSAEDZ in 2016, employing 680 people and 84 high-end professionals. The venture capital investment of local big data industries was 570 million yuan (roughly $ 81.5 million), and construction began on 25 big data projects with a total investment of 4.1 billion yuan (about $ 592.2 million). The commercial scale of local big data information climbed to 3.68 billion yuan (nearly $ 536.1 million).
Building roads and railways creates prosperity in all sectors. The GSAEDZ has already completed the construction of seven roads with a total span of 66 kilometers. In addition, a total of 23 roads with a length of 83 kilometers are currently under construction.
In addition to forming a high-speed transportation system known for eight roads in a horizontal direction, another four roads in a vertical direction and three connected rings, the GSAEDZ will concentrate on planning and building an inter-city rail system and appropriate stations, which will be centered on the Terminal 2 in Longdongbao International Airport. That step is expected to further accelerate connectivity of air, railway and road transportation.
The industrial development orientation of the GSAEDZ is to be a pioneer of innovation in big data and build a cluster of comprehensive services for an innovative central city. It has attracted 96 projects, whose total investment reaches 130 billion yuan (about $18.6 billion). About 36.7 billion yuan (roughly $5.2 billion) has already been invested for construction. A number of landmark projects such as Business Big Data, Double Dragon Big Data, and the China Unicom Mass Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center are under construction.
Drawing upon its natural and ecological strengths such as the Nanyue Mountains, Two-ring Forestry, and the Yuliang River and Xiaobi River, the GSAEDZ is aimed at becoming a center and distribution hub for the development of multi-destination tourism in Guizhou, which would work in concert with Tianyan and the five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) in Pingtan County. It has embarked on a project to reforest over 150 hills, 115 of which have been completed. A number of ecological parks such as Central Ecological Park, Yingpan Mountain Park and China Railway City Park are to be completed very soon. There will be 20 such parks in the economic development zone by 2020.
Forest coverage of the 148-square kilometer GSAEDZ now exceeds 52 percent, to rise to 60 percent in 2020.
East Sciences Valley, the first VR themed park in China, will start construction in the months to come. A number of other tourism projects such as the Colorful Town of Guizhou, the 1958 Cultural Creative Park and the Polar Oceanic Park are already built.